Loyalty Among Worlds (Amphibia AU)

After another successful delivery of vegetables to the citizens of Wartwood, Darrel lands Clipper into his pen and joins the Plantars by the waters near the house. He takes the copper bags he gathered and put them into Hop pop's study. Then he comes out the back door to find the group lounging about.

"Another successful delivery today Hop pop," said Darrel. "Well done Darrel," said Hop pop. "You were right about your dragonfly friend, he is very helpful with fast deliveries." "The copper bags are in the study," said Darrel. "Good, we'll need them to pay off taxes," said Hop pop.

"Enough talk Hop pop, let's keep going," said Sprig. "What are you guys doing?" Darrel asked. "Just watch," said Sprig. "This one's going all the way baby." Sprig gargles a bit of saliva in his mouth, much to the disgust of Darrel, and spits into the water.

"Eugh!" said Darrel. "Impressive. Disgusting but impressive." Hop pop chuckled, "You call that a spit? Now watch this." Hop pop does the same thing, only louder and much more powerful. His spit take was much longer than Sprig's, it almost landed close to the water's edge.

"Eugh!" cried Anne. "Just when I thought you guys couldn't get any nastier." "You guys seem to get really competitive with just spitting," said Darrel. "That's because Spitting is practically a sport in Wartwood," said Hop pop. "We even have a town record," said Sprig. "Whoever breaks the record gets a trophy."

"And another good reason why I don't spit," said Darrel. "I mean is Polly even okay with this?" "Are you kidding me?" Anne said in a disgusting tone. "She's probably disgusted as well." But Polly shouted, "That record is MINE!"

Then, Polly takes a big gargle and spits across the water and onto the edge. Darrel was surprised and disgusted that Polly was able to make a powerful spit, despite her age. Anne however was very disgusted.

"That's my little spitter," said Hop pop. "You could spit the frown off a widow," said Sprig. Darrel and Anne shuttered in disgust. Darrel runs off to take refuge in the stable for the time being. Darrel takes a breather and slowly regains his composure.

As he exits the stable, he spots Anne rushing out with Polly. "Anne! Where are you going?" Darrel asked. "Polly is in need of girl time," said Anne. "So I got Hop pop's wallet and we're on our way to expose Polly to a more womanly environment." "Help me Darrel! She's a crazy Lady!" cried Polly as Anne rushed into town.

Darrel shrugged it off and returned to the Plantar boys. "So, Anne left with your wallet and your granddaughter." "I know," said Hop pop. "Not sure what she wants with my wallet though, it's not like I have any money." "Less talk, more spit," said Sprig. The two frogs proceed to spit again, but Darrel leaves before they could.

Back in the stable, Darrel tends to Clipper's wings, cleaning them off of dirt. "Good as new, Clipper." Clipper buzzes his wings to dry them off. However it got Darrel wet instead. "Very funny buddy."

Just then, Tint and Cronaxx arrive. "Hey Darrel," said Tint. "Hey guys," said Darrel. "Are we all set for training?" Cronaxx asked. "I've got everything packed," said Darrel. "Let me get my stuff." Darrel grabbed his backpack and the trio headed out to the wilderness yet again.

Today, Tint and Darrel practice magical arm sways. In which the wizard must perform a traditional hand coordination to perfect a certain spell. While going through the motions, Darrel started to visualize waves of water. Then the vision turned to the Plantars preparing to spit.

That disgusting thought made Darrel lose balance and fall down. "I'm okay," he said. "Then, get up," said Cronaxx. "Let's try again." Darrel nodded and started again. As the day progressed, Darrel either missed a step, wasn't in sync with Tint, or fell down again."

Another hour passes, and Darrel takes a breather. "Is everything okay Darrel?" Cronaxx asked. "You seem to be off focus today." Darrel looked down to the ground, "I've been distracted by the Plantars lately. They've been constantly spitting today, and it's got me grossed out. Even Polly was interested in spitting."

Cronaxx nodded in understanding, "I see. You've discovered something that they seemed to be interested in. Yet it disgusts you at the same time. Well Darrel, for what it's worth, it's not that bad to think about it."

Darrel was confused, "What do you mean?" "I mean, now you know more of the Plantar's interests and hobbies. You don't have to like all of their hobbies, but that doesn't mean that you should feel uncomfortable around them. After all, a leopard snake cannot change its spotted scales."

Darrel looks up to the sky and visualizes Sprig, Hop pop, and Polly spitting at the same time. But this time, Darrel smiled and stood back up. He continued practicing his arm sways again. But this time, he was in perfect sync and he remained focused throughout the routine.

Cronaxx smiled at his newly found focus. Tint did as well and said, "It would seem that this human has accepted their spots." Cronaxx nodded, "Only time will tell, Tint. But I think he's on the right path."

The trio venture out of the forest and prepare to return back to the Plantar farm. Before they could, Darrel decided to head into town. "I'll go see what the girls have been up to," he said. Tint nodded, "Okay, be back soon." The two wave, and Darrel heads into town.

Darrel enters the city of Wartwood and finds Polly alone at Stumpy's. He sits down next to her, "Hey Polly." "Oh, hey Darrel," said Polly. "How was your day?" "Uneventful, just some magic training here and there," said Darrel. "How about you?"

Darrel looks at Polly who expresses a glum look on her face. "I take it Girl Time was a bust?" "You could say that," replied Polly. "I thought me and Anne were going to do something exciting. But instead we went to the spa, did our hair, then she stuffed me in a dress! It was so dull."

Darrel listened to the little tadpole and smiled, "Sounds to me that a certain human is trying to change a leopard's spots." "I don't get it," said Polly. "Do you mean a leopard snake?" Darrel nodded, "The point is, we all have something we don't like. I don't like spitting, and you don't like getting frilly. But that doesn't mean we can't find things we can all enjoy together."

Polly smiles, "You really know how to make people feel better don't you?" "I've got a pretty great teacher," Darrel replied. "So, let's say we get you something to drink and go home?" Polly nodded, "Sure,"

Darrel placed a couple copper coins and asked Stumpy for two drinks. Just then, One eyed Wally came up to greet the two. "Hey there, Polly! Hello, monster!" "Hello, Wally," said Darrel. "Wanna join us?" "Why not?" Wally replied.

The three sat down and consumed their drinks. Wally gave off a good burp, while Darrel gave off a longer burp. The two laugh it off, until Polly beat them with a burp that's longer and louder than theirs. "Wow, Polly," said Darrel "That was amazing!"

Polly smiled, "Guess there are some things you aren't disgusted with." "Nope, my dad and I used to compete with burping all the time. It grossed out my mother and sisters, but we all had a good laugh," said Darrel. "However, you've got the burp of a titan," said Wally. "Thanks Wally," said Polly.

Just then, Anne showed up all out of breath. "Hey Anne," said Darrel. Polly was glum seeing her again. "What the heck, Polly?" Anne asked. "You ditched me? And now I find you rubbing elbows with Darrel and a local deadbeat?"

"That hurt my soul," said Wally. "Hey Anne, calm down," said Darrel. "You need to understand that Polly isn't into Girl Time." "Well you seemed pretty disgusted with her spitting," said Anne. "Well excuse me for at least trying to tolerate things that she's interested in," said Darrel.

"Darrel's right Anne," said Polly. "Him and Wally don't waste my time on stuff I think that are stupid and boring!" Anne gasped and said, "Well excuse me for trying to make you less of a disgusting little slob!"

That's when Darrel slammed down on the table. "Anne Boonchuy, THAT'S ENOUGH!" She covers her mouth, staring at Darrel who is stern, and Polly who looked hurt. "Now look what you've done. You've hurt her feelings! I think you should-"

Before Darrel could say another word, he turned his attention to an angry mob behind Anne. "Uh oh," said Darrel. "What is it Darrel?" Anne asked. Before she knew it, Anne was grabbed by a frog behind her. "Tuti caught thief!" said the frog.

Darrel smacked his head in embarrassment. "Wait, what do you mean thief?" Anne asked. "I totally paid." "With what, Anne?" Darrel asked. "Hop pop said he didn't have money in his wallet." That's when a frog walks up looking like the town sheriff. He is known to the people as the Constable. "Exactly little boy, Hopediah's broke," he said. Then he takes out what looks like an IOU note made by Hop pop. "Which makes the IOU's she's been handing out totally worthless."

The crowd split up to show Hop pop, Cronaxx, Tint, and Sprig in shackles. Darrel groaned in shame, "Oh great," "These chains represent our burden on society," said Sprig. "Dang it Anne, how much did you spend?" Hop pop asked. "Yeah, how much did she spend?" Darrel asked the Constable.

He gives Darrel the bill from places that Anne spent across the town. He looks at the total cost, and suddenly his jaw drops. He takes a deep breath and regains his composure. "Wait right here," he said.

He rushes off to the farm and gets the copper bags from his recent deliveries. He returns to the town with the bags in his hand. "The good news is I have money," said Darrel. "But the bad news is, I may not have enough to settle the debt." "Well unless you can pay for the rest of the debt I'll have to do my duty and put you all in debtor's prison," said the Constable.

Tuti takes the copper bags and the group make their way to debtor's prison, which looks like a chicken coop. "How does debtor's prison work?" Tint asked. "It's basically gathering eggs for the town until the debt is paid off," replied the Constable.

"Well that doesn't sound so bad," said Anne. Darrel glares at the doors to the prison and asks, "Wait. What kind of eggs are we gathering?" The two frogs open the doors to reveal the group that they have to gather spider eggs. And the spiders are very hostile with frogs taking their children.

Some of the group screamed while Darrel and the Salamanders remained quiet. Trying to find a way to weasel out of the rest of the debt, Darrel looks around and finds the spitting trophy on top of a post. That's when he came up with an idea.

Before he could enter the coop, he asked again, "Constable, is that trophy made of gold?" "24 carot, sir," he replied. "Then I like to issue a challenge: If my friend Polly can break the spit record, we can use the trophy to pay off the rest of the debt."

Anne grabs Polly and places her on the standing line for the challenge. "Spit dude," said Anne. "Spit like you've never spit before." Polly glares down and says, "Let's do this." The rest of the town gather around to make sure she breaks the record and settles their debt.

"Okay little lady," said the Constable. "You get three official chances. You ready?" The whole town waited in suspense. Polly started gurgling up a batch of saliva and spit it across the yard. However, it wasn't enough to break the record. Polly tried again, only this time it didn't get closer to the last place she spit.

The group grew worried, Polly only has one more official chance. "Something ain't right," siad Hop pop. "What do you mean?" Tint asked. "She's not spitting at full force." Hop pop replied, "Almost as if she's ashamed."

"Yeah, I wonder why," said Darrel as he gives a shameful glare at Anne. Anne looks down feeling guilty, then decides to make things right. She goes to Polly's side and kneels down. "Hey, you okay?" she asked. "Yeah," Polly replied in a gloom tone. "I guess it's kind of hard to spit when you feel gross."

Anne looks to Darrel then back to Polly. "Polly, I'm the gross one," she said. " I tried to change someone that's perfect the way they are." Darrel smiles, "What she's trying to say Polly, is that she's sorry and she was wrong." Polly started smiling again and looked at Anne. "Yeah, I was wrong," she said. "Super wrong?" Polly asked. "Super wrong," Anne replied. "You're always wrong?" Polly asked.

"Hey hey hey," said Darrel. "She's not always wrong." Darrel smiles at Anne who smiles back at him. "Okay, just most of the time," said Polly. The two girls hug it out and that gives Polly the confidence she needs to spit again.

She gurgles her saliva again and gives off a powerful spit. The spit went so far and was so powerful that it hit the current record sign and went past it. The crowd cheered, as well as the group. Tuti takes the trophy and breaks it up, splitting each piece to the citizens of Wartwood.

In the end, Polly was left with a little piece of the trophy, claiming it as extra from the debt. "Well, your debt is repaid," said the Constable. "And my work here is done." He hops off into the sunset and the group watches.

"That was an amazing departure scene," said Darrel. "So what are we going to do with the extra gold?" Sprig asked. "I think I have an idea," replied Anne.

Later that day, Sprig places the new town record trophy on the post. The trophy looks like a gold version of Polly spitting. "What do you think Polly?" Cronaxx asked. "I love it!" Polly cried.

Polly turns her attention to Anne. "Hey sorry girl time was a bust," she said. Anne just shrugged it off, "Hey don't worry about it. I mean the more I think about it, the whole idea of girl time is pretty weird. I mean, who's to say boys don't like spas?"

This got Hop pop and Sprig's attention immediately turned to Anne. "You went to the spa without us?" Sprig asked. "Oh Anne, I love the spa," said Hop pop. "Did you get that fishy pedicure?" Anne nodded, "Yeah it was amazing." "I agree," said Hop pop, "You know they're actually eating the dead skin off the bottom of your feet?"

The group returns to the farm preparing to turn in for the day. Darrel feeds Clipper again and decides to go for a joy ride. He finds Anne getting fresh air and asks, "Hey Anne, wanna go for a ride with me?" Anne turns to Darrel getting ready to fly and she said, "Heck yeah,"

Anne takes Darrel's hand and the two fly off into the sky. And it was good timing, for the sky revealed an aurora borealis. It was the most beautiful sight they have seen in Amphibia. Clipper hovers in place as the two watch the lights dance. "How is this possible?" Anen asked. "I thought this happened in snowy regions." "It's science," replied Darrel. "Even I have trouble understanding how science works."

The two sit side by side smiling at the view. "This world is amazing on so many levels," said Darrel. "Of course, there are a lot of dangerous things out there. But it only depends on how I look at it."

"I agree, Darrel," said Anne. She looks to Darrel who is smiling at the sky. "I'm sorry Darrel." Darrel turns to Anne who is looking away from him. "For what?" he asked. "For getting you involved in this," she replied. "If I had just listened to you instead of Sasha, we wouldn't be in this mess. This is all my fault."

"You're not the only one at fault here, Anne," said Darrel. "I didn't do anything to stop you. I knew it was wrong, yet I kept my mouth shut to stay on Sasha's good side. If anything I'm partially to blame for our situation." Darrel looks down and says, "I may as well call myself a bad friend because of this,"

Anne was shocked to hear him say that. "Are you kidding me?" she asked. "You're not a bad friend. You're far from it. You are kind, honest, respectful, and most of all, you are loyal to the very end. If there were more people like Darrel Loyalitat, there wouldn't be any room for bad friends. In this world, and our world."

Darrel looks back to smile at Anne. Unaware that she's touching his hand, Darrel takes a deep breath and takes hers. This caused Anne to blush lightly. "Why can't more friends be like you Anne?" "Because there's no one else like me," she replied laughing. "I am who I am." Darrel nodded, "Indeed, you are who you are."

"Then I promise, no matter how long it takes," he said. "We will find Sasha and Marcy, and get back home." Anne smiled, "I know we will. Because I'm going to hold on to that promise along with you." The two hug it out, and then return to the farm to turn in for the night.